Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Aug 13/99) - Sir Alexander Mackenzie school was to become the first building in Inuvik to switch to natural gas.

Its new heating system was switched on during an informal ceremony slated for Wednesday afternoon.

The event was to mark a triumph for Inuvik Gas Ltd., a partnership of three Calgary-based companies that marketing representative Jill Finley said came together last year.

"We wanted to bring gas to the North," she said Monday, "and now we're turning on the gas for the first time."

Finley said the project was made possible when the partnership set up its well at Ikhil, 38 km north of the town, and began transporting gas to Inuvik last winter. She said Inuvik Gas is also in the process of completing its district station at Ikhil and is eyeing a Sept. 15 completion date.

Finley said the switch to natural gas over oil means an approximate 15 per cent cost savings for consumers.

Karen Henry with the Northwest Territories Department of Public Works in Inuvik said the timing was good. Henry said the existing heating system of high-temperature water was being wound down over the last couple years and was completed June 11 -- meaning the territory had to choose an alternative heating system.

"The whole thing about us switching to gas was closely related to the high-temperature heating going off," she said, "and, what with gas being cleaner and more efficient and potentially cheaper (than oil), we made the decision to go for gas."

It was Inuvik's Dowland Contracting Ltd. that won the tender last January to begin converting the government buildings in Inuvik to be ready for gas. Henry said the Mackenzie school construction contract was worth $318,614.

Henry also said construction completion and gas hook-up is imminent at several other sites -- including several Aurora College buildings and the research centre, Samuel Hearne high school and Inuvik Regional Hospital.

Finley said the other hook-ups will gradually follow the one the one at SAM school. But she said Inuvik Gas' expansion beyond the town is limited for the time being.

"This is the first project in the NWT," she said, "and it was natural with the well so close to town, but currently there's only enough for Inuvik."